


Quiet Nights and Fairy Lights

by poquito (manta)



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, but i finished it the day of woop woop, inspired by last minute panic, posting this belatedly, yay for bursts of activity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 19:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2885498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manta/pseuds/poquito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clear is really into the Christmas season. That includes awful holiday sweaters, cozy blanket forts, and taking Aoba along for the ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quiet Nights and Fairy Lights

**Author's Note:**

> In a fit over how cute Clear would be around Christmas time, I made some ClearAo headcanons into a quick ficlet to share with friends who love the ship.
> 
> (We're gonna pretend Christmas is a thing in DMmd world. Though Aoba still has work as per Asian celebrations of it.)

“Ready to decorate?” Aoba asks, inclining his head at the multiple shopping bags looped along Clear’s arms.

Clear nods frantically, beaming, and Aoba just laughs. Of course Clear’s excited, and Aoba knows it - all he wanted was to elicit Clear’s smile, unabashed and true.

 

* * *

 

One is forest green with ribbons and tiny bells, the other red with a fake white beard and a leather belt that covers most of the torso.

And they are both hideous.

“Out of all the Christmas sweaters in existence, you picked these?” Aoba stares at the clothes on his bed, deserving an Oscar for keeping his tone perfectly mild and his face free of abject horror.

“Aren’t they so festive?” Clear turns one over. “And look – stuffed reindeer heads on the back! If you pull the noses, they sing carols!”

“You’re lucky you’re too cute to refuse,” Aoba groans as he shrugs the red sweater over his head.

 

* * *

 

“And just where are you off to?”

Someone grips Clear’s arm, and he turns around.

“On my evening walk as usual, Aoba-san,” he responds, with some confusion.

“Going out the front door instead of the balcony, though?”

“Oh!” So _that’s_ why Aoba’s curiosity was aroused. “Well, I wanted to see the pretty lights… I didn’t want to ruin people’s hard work by stepping on their roofs.”

“And you didn’t invite me along?”

“Well, you usually decline when I ask, Aoba-san. Something about motion sickness and not having an early death wish.”

“It’s fine if we stay strictly on the ground. _Strictly_. Come on, let’s go!” And Clear feels Aoba’s arm curling around his waist, ushering them both outside.

“A-are you sure? What about your jacket?” Clear peers worriedly at the dark sky, and then at the goosebumps rising on Aoba’s arms.

But Aoba just looks at him like he’s crazy. “Why would I need it? I have you.”

It’s really hard to argue with that, with Aoba inching closer, and Clear instinctively enfolds him in an embrace. “Aoba-san...”

“Besides, someone needs to look out for you, Clear. We don’t want you getting lost again.”

“Aoba-san!”

 

* * *

 

The house is dark when Aoba gets home from work. Granny is spending the day visiting an ailing friend, but…

“Clear?” he calls tentatively, and he can’t hide the disgruntlement in his tone- coming home to an unheated house from the blizzard outside leaves him in a rather cross mood.

“In here, Aoba-san,” comes a voice from the living room, somewhat muffled.

There’s a glow that spills into the hallway, and Aoba approaches, somewhat cautiously. “Cle-?” he tries again, and splutters when he almost walks straight into a suspended bed sheet.

“Go around! The entrance is on the other side.”

Aoba’s heart stops hammering when he can see Clear’s shadow in addition to his voice, and does as he’s instructed. He lifts the flap of fabric, ready with questions, but they die on his lips. “Clear, what-? _Oh_!”

Fairy lights of every colour twinkle at Aoba, making him blink in surprise.

A miniature Christmas tree sits in one corner, somehow still standing despite the enormous gold star at its highest branch. And there is tinsel wrapped everywhere – around the lights and the supports of the fort, around the legs of what appears to be Clear’s entire stuffed jellyfish collection, even around Clear himself.

It’s all so colourful and luminous and _beautiful_ , with Clear plopped in the middle of his creation on fluffy white blankets.

“It’s a blanket fort!” Clear says, in reply to Aoba’s open-mouthed disbelief. “Mizuki-san told me about them. I was so excited about making one, he let me off work early so I could finish it before you came back. Have you never heard of them, Aoba-san?”

“Of course I have! Koujaku and I used to make them all the time as kids.” Aoba runs a hand through his hair. “Geez, Clear… I knew you were good at housework and crafts, but I wasn’t expecting the blanket fort of blanket forts.”

“You… you don’t like it?” Clear’s excitement wavers for a moment, eyes dropping to linger on the Santa hat in his grasp.

He’s about to apologize when another pair of hands close around his.

“Clear,” Aoba says. He doesn’t sound mad, but Clear can’t be sure. “Clear, look at me.”

So Clear does, tentatively at first. But Aoba’s golden eyes warm him through and through, and it’s not from the heat the lights give off.

“I love it.”

Clear stares, too relieved to say more than a hopeful “Really??”

“It’s perfect.” Aoba smiles. Clear’s stomach twists in a knot.

There’s something missing, though.

“It just needs one more thing,” Clear announces, and it’s a miracle his voice doesn’t shake.

“Hm? What is it?”

Clear gently pulls his hands away, places the Santa hat atop Aoba’s head. He takes a moment to admire Aoba’s indulgent expression, how safe he feels in this makeshift castle.

And then Clear leans forward to press his lips ever so softly to Aoba’s mouth.

“Merry Christmas, Aoba-san.”


End file.
